In the last verse, the Lord mentioned a yogaaruDha. In this verse the qualities of a yogaarudha are described in detail.
यदा हि नेन्द्रियार्थेषु न कर्मस्वनुषज्जते ।
सर्वसंकल्पसंन्यासी योगारूढस्तदोच्यते ॥
yadaa hi nendriyaartheshhu na karmasvanushhajjate .
sarvasaN^kalpasa.nnyaasii yogaaruuDhastadochyate .6.4.
When a man does not have attachment either for actions or for sense objects and has renounced all thoughts of the world, then he is said to have climbed the heights of yoga.
yadaa - when :
na - neither :
indriyaartheshhu – to the objects of the senses :
na hi - nor indeed :
karmasu – to actions :
anushhajjate – (one) feels attached :
tadaa – then :
sarvasaN^kalpasa.nnyaasii - one who has given up all thoughts of the world :
yogaaruuDhaH uchyate – is said to have attained the heights of yoga:
A yogaaruuDha has no attachment to the objects of senses. This means that he does not seek what is pleasing to his eyes or taste or other senses.
Adi Shankaracharya - A Sarva Sankalpa Sannyasi
Many of us feel that all these are not applicable to us. When I say, we are slaves of sense objects, we all look around and think it applies to every one other than ourself. We say, “How can I be a slave of what I own? Am I not the master?” Well, there is an easy way to know.”How much of what you own can you give away without thinking twice?” When we are able to reach that stage where we can give away virtually anything we own to anybody who is in need, then that is the stage of the yogaaruuDha.
To reach that stage, we should practice by giving away at least what we do not need or use to someone who is in greater need. It is said that the pleasure of receiving is human while the pleasure of giving is divine.
Once a little boy wanted 100 rupees. He wrote a letter to God requesting him to send 100 Rupees. He marked the envelope God, C/o Heaven and posted it. The postal authorities send it to the Post Master General (PMG). The PMG read the letter and was so touched that he decided to send the boy 20 Rs., thinking that it would be a big sum for him. The little boy got the amount and then wrote another letter to God. “Dear God, Thank you very much for sending the money. However, Why did you have to send the letter through the post office? As usual, the corrupt officials have taken 80Rs and send me only the balance”.
Just as we will not know how a rasagolla tastes, unless we bite and taste it, we will never know, what is the divine pleasure of giving, unless we try and give whatever we can for others. Not every one is as lucky as we are, because we have our Guruji in front of us, who has shown us many times, how easy it is to give. We should try and inculcate this habit as early as we can so that we can be true disciples.
If we want to go to a wedding or a party, we plan what we want to wear, buy a present etc., and get ready in advance. When we plan our vacation, we start buying our tickets, buying gifts, packing our bags etc., well in advance. We also plan what we want to do during our vacation well in advance so that we will have an enjoyable vacation. When we spend so much time planning even for a wedding we attend or our vacation, should we not plan ahead for our ultimate journey. In the former two, we know when the occasion is going to come and so we can plan for some time in advance. But we do not know when we are going towards the Lord. The Lord’s journey cannot be postponed by us. Time waits for no one and it does not follow Man. Man has to follow time. The Gita teaches us that we can enjoy the objects of the world but should not get attached to them or feel that we possess them. When a person leaves an office, he cannot take away the tables, the computers or any other valuable equipment (pins and papers are exceptions). He knows it the very first day that he joins the office and has absolutely no illusions about these. He also has no attachment to these. Similarly, we are all here in this world, only to perform our allotted work and we should not become attached to all the equipment that we have been given. When the Lord says that we are transferred or sacked, we should be ready to move on. If we want a promotion, we should perform our job with the right attitude and for the benefit of the organization.
In the same way, if we want to realize God, we should turn our interests and actions to the welfare of the World that the Lord has created. When we truly understand this, then we can act with detachment. This is the ultimate characteristic of the yogaruuDha who has attained the heights of yoga.
